Monday, 22 June 2015

Building the Docks - part 2 - The Lighthouse

One of the key features of the docks will be the lighthouse. This should provide a focal point on the edge of the table and of course give elevation to any sneaky snipers or observers.

The Lighthouse model in actual fact a resin cast piece used for outdoor pond decoration. It was sourced from ebay about a year ago and even comes with a rotating solar powered light.

The model itself stands about 40 cm tall and comes in two pieces - the lightbouse top and the base.

I mounted the base on an off cut of hardboard and created some simple steps up to the door using blue foam. The base will eventually be covered in sand and ballast.

For the roof section I had to cover up the solar panels. If you lok carefully in the picture you can see that I have cut a plasticard triangle and glued this over one of the roof sections. I did this akll the way round the top and then glued in some cut bamboos skewers to recreate the roof bars.

The whole roof was then covered in kitchen towel soaked in PVA. The Intention to create a leaded roof.

I wanted to create a proper firing platform on the top of the structure. The lighthouse itself was octagonal so I cut out a piece 3m wide than the current top to create this platform.

This was then dressed up with some coffee stirrers

A handrail around the top was then created using more bamboo skewers - you can see aphoto of this a bit further on.

Now remember my static grass applicator that came with a mesh - well waste is always useful. The mesh is perfect for the glass panes on the lighthouse tower light

I clipped out a rectangular piece - primed this and the sprayed black. Using superglue to fix I wrapped this around the plastic tube that comes with the model.

All I have to do now is reassemble the kit and start painting...

I'll be adding the hand rail (using wire ) once it is all painted.

The 28mm figure illustrates the size of this platform.

The warehouses arrived today so when I get back from a business trip to the States at the weekend I'll be starting on these.